HC bench drops petitions of Grameen Kalyan, Grameen Telecom Trust from cause list

A High Court bench today dropped from its cause list three writ petitions filed by two organisations established by Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus.

Of the three, Grameen Kalyan filed two in 2017 and Grameen Telecom Trust submitted one in 2020 challenging the legality of the government imposing around Tk 1,100 crore tax between 2012-2013 and 2016-2017 fiscal years.

The HC bench led by Justice Farah Mahbub dropped the petitions from its cause list saying that another bench could hear the petitions.

The court passed the order after Attorney General AM Amin Uddin requested it to hold the hearings quickly since the government wants to show the tax as revenue income in its next budget.

The HC bench said it won't be able to hold the hearings before June 7 and it dropped the petitions from its cause list.

Deputy Attorney General Samarendranath Biswas told The Daily Star that they will move the petitions before another bench soon.

Grameen Kalyan's petitioner Sarder Jinnat Ali told The Daily Star that Prof Muhammad Yunus has established Grameen Kalyan and Grameen Telecom Trust as nonprofitable trusts under Section 28 of the Company Act, 1994.

The companies have paid the taxes on time, but the government has charged around Tk 1,100 as tax from the companies.

Following the writ petitions, the HC issued separate rules in 2017 and 2020 questioning the government decisions for charging the tax.